bennett



(No Model.)

' T. G. BENNETT.

CARTRIDGE -SHELL.

No. 503,117. Patehted Au 15, 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS G. BENNETT, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE WINCHESTER REEEATING ARMS COMPANY, OF.SAME PLACE.

CARTRIDGE-SH ELL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 503,117, dated August 15, 1893.

Application filed October 3, 1892- Serial No. 147,649. (No nmde To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS G. BENNETT, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Cartridge-Shells; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of thisspecification, and represent, in-

Flgure 1, a side view of the cartridge-shell complete; Fig.2, a cartridge pack composed of several cartridges having their shells in accordance with this invention.

This invention relates to an improvement in cartridge-shells, with special reference to shells which are made wholly from metal. In the usual construction of this class of shells, the rear or head end of the shell is upset so as to produce an annular flange around the rear end, the flange serving both as a stop to locate the cartridge in the chamber of the gun, and also as a means for extracting the shell, the flange thus formed being thin, and presentinga rounded edge. In the use of cartridges having the head thus formed, in that class of magazine arms in which the cartridges are arranged below the breech-piece in a column substantially parallel with each other, or nearly so, and one above the other, great care is required to be exercised in the introduction of the cartridges to the magazine in order that the heads of the cartridges may not interlock so as to prevent the proper transfer of a cartridge from the magazine to the barrel, that is to say, the cartridges must be so arranged in the magazine that each successive head from the bottom of the magazine upward, shall stand forward of the one next below. In this arrangement of cartridges the head of one cartridge rests forward of the head of the cartridge next below, and upon the body of the cartridge at the head, the shells coming together at a point forward.

In some cases the magazine is adapted for the arrangement of cartridges with one head resting upon another, but in such arrangement the cartridges stand inclined to each other to a much greater extent, and the depth of the column at the rear end is considerably greater when arranged with the heads one in advance of the one next below, as before referred to.

Flangeless cartridges have been made, dependence being had upon the shape of the body of the cartridge for its proper location in the chamber of the barrel, but owing to the unavoidable variation in the size and shape of shells, its location is to a considerable extent uncertain.

The object of my invention is the construction of a shell which shall be substantially flangeless, and yet provided with an annular shoulder by which the cartridges may be positively located in the chamber of the barrel.

To this end, the invention consists in the construction of the shell as hereinafter described and particularly recited in the claim.

A, represents the body of the shell, which in this illustration is considerably larger than the caliber of the gun and is contracted at its forward end to form a neck B, to receive the bullet, in the usual manner. At the rear the shell is constructed with an annular enlargement 0, and so as to form a shoulder D, around the shell, at a considerable distance forward of the rear end; this enlargement tapers from the rear end forward on lines which will strike the shell near its forward end, or at the point where the contraction for the neck commences, and as indicated in broken lines Fig. 1. Near the rear end of the enlargement C, an annular groove E, is formed, and so as to produce a rim F, around the rear end, corresponding to the rim or flange of a common metallic cartridge, but this rim is substantially no larger in diameter than the portion of the cartridge forward of it, except as to the taper before mentioned. The chamber in the barrel is constructed of a shape corresponding to the body A, of the cartridge and the enlargement O, and so as to form a shoulder in the chamber corresponding to the annular shoulder D, of the shell, and so that the cartridge inserted into the chamber in the barrel, the shoulder D, of the shell will come to a bearing in the barrel, and thuspositively and properly locate the cartridge in the barrel.

The enlargement C, carries the shoulder D,

so far forward of the rear end of the cartridge that there is no liability of misplacement of the cartridges in the magazine, the cartridges lying as seen in Fig. 2, the surface of the enlargement of one bearing upon that of the other throughout, and the cartridges themselves come to a bearing one upon anotherforward.

The/groove E, serves for the engagement of the extractor, as usual with flanged rtridges.

This construction of shell is peculiarly adapted for the formation of cartridge packs,

such as seen in Fig. 2, the cartridges being arranged in'a holder which secures them together, so that with the holder the cartridges may be inserted into the magazine. By this construction, the diameter of the rear end of the cartridge is very materially reduced from what it must be in the case of the upsetting of the shell to form the flange.

The shell is represented as of the necked character, but it will be understood that the invention applies equally to shells without the neck, the shell continuing its shape forward, as indicated in broken lines Fig. 1.

I am aware that cartridge-shells have been constructed with an annular groove near the rear end to form a rim or shoulder for the engagement of the extractor, and so that such 30 rim is produced of a diameter corresponding substantially to the diameter of the shell forward of the groove, and therefore do not broadly claim a cartridge shell having such an annular groove formed therein, but

:NVhat I do claim is A cartridge-shell constructed with an enlargement from its rear end forward, the said enlargement terminating at its forward end in an annular shoulder around the body of 40 the shell, the surface of the said enlargement tapering from the rear end forward on lines which strike the shell near its forward end, and the said enlargement near its rear end having an annular groove formed therein to 45 producea rim around the rear end of said en largement, but of substantially the same diameter as the body of said enlargement forward of said rim, and substantiallyas described. 0

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS G. BENNETT.

Witnesses:

DANIEL H. VEADER, A. W. EARLE. 

